About GameZombie
In two years time, GZ has produced over 250 hi-quality, original game videos for global webcast. Official YouTube Partner status, various distribution contracts, and a rapidly expanding fan base have pushed GameZombie into the elite of game media. After winning a 2008 Webby Honoree Award, GZ is one of the few companies to repeat the feat in 2009.

Coming soon: Season 2 of GZ’s smash hit, ButtonMashers, and a brand new video game show called Ultimate Challenge that’s sure to be hit with video game fans around the world!

Bio
I grew up in New England, Southern California, and Europe, went to high school in Chicago, and received highest honors degrees in History and Film Production from the University of Texas at Austin. Upon graduation, I traveled throughout Central and South America, a journey that resulted in the novels, Fury & Redemption and Bad Blood Born. In the fall of 2006, I entered the Telecommunications Program at Indiana University at Bloomington. My thesis project was the two-time Webby Honoree Award winning original series, GameZombie TV.

This Fall 2009, I’m joining the faculty at the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater, helping develop UWW’s Media Arts & Game Development Lab. Simultaneously, I’m pursuing a PhD in Curriculum & Instruction, Educational Communications & Technology, at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. My professional objective is to design cutting edge, hands-on new media education projects–like GameZombie–that compete and succeed on the web.

Developed and taught the popular curriculum, ‘Web Video & the Game Industry – GameZombie’ to over 150 talented students. Oversaw advanced multimedia production in state of the art computer labs plus 3 years experience teaching and producing in a $1mill HDTV studio

November 8, 2009

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GameZombie TV’s lead motion graphics designer Jason Jahnke, left, clicks on a video clip that isn’t working correctly. Meanwhile, production manager Maxwell Zierath, center, telephones the advisor to students at the Indiana University branch of Game Zombie TV to get them to send the file again. Lindsey Rients, right, another production manager, looks on at the work of another member of the team.

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GameZombie TV’s lead motion graphics designer Jason Jahnke looks over some footage transmitted from students working at the Indiana University branch of GameZombie TV.

WHITEWATER — Students are brewing life in the multimedia lab in the basement of Andersen Library at UW-Whitewater—but instead of bringing breath to their “monster” for class credit, they’re gaining business identities.

GameZombie TV, a popular and award-winning gaming industry news and interview Web series that embraces the “by gamers, for gamers” mentality, is allowing students to get first-hand experience in a number of highly-competitive industries.

“It’s a powerful learning experience,” said Spencer Stuart, an instructor at UW-Whitewater and executive producer and creative director of GameZombie. “It’s not just a student project. They’re part of a studio that puts out content … ”

The series receives hundreds of thousands of views a week and has received more than 7 million video views since its start in 2007. The studio produces two videos a week and has amassed a collection of more than 275 videos that are distributed through a number of video portals, such as YouTube. GameZombie even won a Webby Award in 2008 and 2009 for best online video in the student category.

Stuart created GameZombie as part of his master’s degree project at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., but even then, he had grand visions of the place GameZombie would hold in the gaming industry.

“It was always meant to be something real,” said the 31-year-old, who holds degrees in history and film and new media. “That’s the thing I hated about school. You make stuff, you show it to a room of 50 people, you get critiqued and you put it in your archive for the rest of time. It’s not motivating.

“But this … is like building equity in a brand, in a media product … that’s completely and totally out in the public.”

Stuart taught a class about online video production and the gaming industry at Indiana University, in which students essentially worked on video production, Web development and marketing for GameZombie. He plans to teach a similar class at UW-Whitewater.

GameZombie has evolved in its three years. It once produced game reviews, but now produces high-quality stylized reviews, interviews and video series.

“It wasn’t smart enough,” Stuart said of the old model. “It was fun, but it wasn’t smart from a business perspective. It’s very competitive to make videos for the Web, and too many people were already doing (reviews).”

GameZombie now is known for its dynamic videos that place an emphasis on high-quality two- and three-dimensional graphics, seamless-yet-schizophrenic editing and production style and obscure humor understood only by gamers.

The studio also has a big Web presence—even above and beyond its original videos. It has a Facebook page, a Twitter feed and a blog.

“There’s just an endless stream of content,” Stuart said.

Although GameZombie is not an official class yet (it will be in spring), and media arts and game development is not an official major yet (it will be next fall), dozens of students already are meeting regularly to learn the ropes of the studio, from lining up interviews to producing videos to marketing the business.

Maxwell Zierath, sophomore from Milton, wants to have a career in the gaming industry, and GameZombie is giving him a chance to not only create videos but also network with game developers and companies.

“This is an opportunity I can’t miss,” he said. “This is the best way for me to get out there after college.”

Brian Walsh, a senior from Hartland, is treating his time with GameZombie as an internship, even though he’s not getting college credit for it.

“I can get my feet wet in something I really want to do,” he said. “I never thought this was something I actually could do. (Working in the gaming industry) is just a pipe dream for most people. But I can use this to get an ‘in’ in the industry.”

Stuart said his students are showing a lot of motivation and enthusiasm for the work ahead of them. He is hopeful the program at UW-Whitewater will flourish as it did at Indiana University.

“It’s a lot of fun, but it’s a lot of hard work. They’re playing for much higher stakes,” he said of his students.

November 8, 2009

Projects Include Film, Television and Licensing

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Shannon Lee, daughter of Bruce Lee and CEO of Bruce Lee Enterprises and LeeWay Media is announcing a major expansion of the Bruce Lee brand. Her organization has launched a flagship website, BruceLee.com, and is actively engaged in an ambitious program of licensing name and likeness rights and creating original film and television productions. Upon reacquiring her family’s merchandising rights from Universal Studios, Shannon has opened an in-house licensing division, Bruce Lee Enterprises (BLE), and LeeWay Media Group, a production company dedicated to the perpetuation of the Lee legacy through new media works.

“BruceLee.com will be the beacon of all things Bruce Lee on the Internet,” said Shannon Lee. “The site will include everything from facts about Bruce Lee to digital content to merchandise. I’ll also be writing a blog. My father’s fans have been asking for a place to find information and communicate with each other. This site will be a meeting place for our community.”

LeeWay Media Group, the television and film production company, is actively coordinating a slate of film and television productions. Projects in development include a Chinese language biopic directed by noted Hong Kong director Andrew Lau, an animation project with Waddell Media and Ireland-based Flickerpix, a CG action film, and a Broadway musical from veterans David Henry Hwang (M Butterfly), Stuart Oken (Lion King), Director Bartlett Sher (South Pacific), and David Yazbek (The Full Monty).

Recently completed projects include a 50-part television biography of Bruce Lee that aired in China on CCTV and How Bruce Lee Changed the World, which aired on the History Channel.

Bruce Lee Enterprises (BLE), the licensing company, has been focused on a slate of merchandising and advertising deals that include Pepsi Cola, Nokia, Lucky Brand Jeans and Charter Communications. “The ethos of Bruce Lee – action, power, grace and style – provides a broad base appeal that we are just beginning to realize,” says Alex Stephens, VP of Licensing at BLE. “Bruce smashed racial, gender and generational barriers during his lifetime and our partners understand that his image enables them to market products to a broad and attractive demographic.”

BLE also announced that Greenlight, a media licensing, talent and rights representation consultancy has been selected to represent the rights of Bruce Lee for advertising and endorsements world-wide.

BLE has declared an aggressive program to protect the integrity of the Bruce Lee brand in the United States and internationally. Kris Storti, COO and General Counsel, will coordinate this program. Says Storti, “We are re-doubling our efforts around the world. We are absolutely committed to a vigorous protection of the Bruce Lee brand and our intellectual property, and plan to pursue legal action whenever necessary. This, unfortunately, includes the recently announced biopic by JA Media and Robert Lee.”

The Bruce Lee Foundation, (bruceleefoundation.org)a non-profit organization, will be holding a convention at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Los Angeles, November 13-15 which is open to the public. Linda Lee Cadwell, Foundation Chairperson and wife of the late Lee says, “We continue to be moved by the outpouring of affection and respect for Bruce around the world.” The Foundation provides scholarships and educational programs, as well as a long term goal of creating the Bruce Lee Action Museum.

“Our goal is simple,” says Shannon. “It is to continue to inspire people through my father’s legacy. There is a lot of value in continuing to put that energy out into the consciousness.”